HEAVINESS in legs...???

Recently, off and on, I'll get this very heavy feeling in my legs. They feel like LEAD WEIGHTS...kind of have to drag myself into the kitchen or wherever. Then later in the day, they'll feel better, relatively speaking. It happened this morning/early afternoon, but now, early evening, they're feeling more normal. WEAK, but normal.

I've been diagnosed with adrenal burnout, with fluctuating cortisol problems so I'm wondering if this could be related to that, or perhaps low potassium/high sodium, or low magnesium?

Bumping for replies, and also because I woke up today and once again they feel so heavy. I did have some tortilla chips yesterday...quite a few...usually don't eat stuff like that, but perhaps they were too salty and (slightly) greasy...?

After about 17 years with CFS, I began having this symptom and started Liothyrionine (T3) and it cleared up. Started on a very low doseage and went very slowly. It's been a couple of years now and it still seems to be working. Also helped tremendously with vertigo.

hello you really should see your doctor if you havent just to make sure what it is.....i hope you are doing better...i have problems with back and siatica nerve damage and alot of numbness and pain in legs...it will feel like sometimes that i have weights on legs trying to walk in swimming pool...really heavy feeling...i hate it...i think it has alot to do with the cfs also just sometimes my whole body feels to heavy to move...im just so tired...

They propose that the acquired inability to meet the usual training demands results in increased cytokine release leading to low level systemic inflammation and raised blood viscosity resulting in the common subjective feeling of 'heavy legs' - plus the other associated somatic and psychological symptoms.

I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the same thing you are or not... sometimes my legs are unresponsive, drag, etc. I have worked out two likely mechanisms in my case.

One kind seems to be related to reduced circulation or some such, comes on with too much inactivity (go figure, right?), and gradually works itself out as I walk across a room, for example. This could be relieved by gentle stretching, perhaps.

The other kind is definitely related to overdoing (which might be brought on by, for example, walking across a room, although fortunately many days it takes something more like walking into and halfway through a Walgreens), and I figure it to be caused by ion channel problems in the muscles (and probably related to immune reaction and brain inflammation, going by the research). Usually starts in the left leg for me, for unknown reasons. Might include dropped toe(s). This kind I avoid as much as possible by pacing.

willowj

Personal health information internet disclaimer: this is private information placed here for the benefit of other ME patients and is not to be used or posted elsewhere. Thank you for respecting our privacy.

They propose that the acquired inability to meet the usual training demands results in increased cytokine release leading to low level systemic inflammation and raised blood viscosity resulting in the common subjective feeling of 'heavy legs' - plus the other associated somatic and psychological symptoms.

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Hi Marco -- No, I didn't see that, but it kind of fits in, in a weird way. I've been "overtraining", or basically walking too much -- because I have no car, and have to buy food(!) -- but would push myself and walk more on days when I had a little more energy, when I should've been resting. And now, I can no longer walk to the store, as of about six weeks ago.

But this heaviness just started about a month back. I'll comment more on your other thread.

After about 17 years with CFS, I began having this symptom and started Liothyrionine (T3) and it cleared up. Started on a very low doseage and went very slowly. It's been a couple of years now and it still seems to be working. Also helped tremendously with vertigo.

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Thanks CJB -- good to know. My thyroid levels are 'normal', but my adrenals are in burnout, so I'm sure they're affecting everything else (I definitely have low body temps, as most of us do) -- also catabolizing my muscles and limited fat -- so are probably affecting my arteries, circulation as well.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Willow -- I don't have the 'dropped' sensation, but I can related to some tingling at times, and certainly cold feet, pointing to a circulation problem I guess. Just weird how it is worse on some days, better on others -- I think depending on what I've eaten the day before, and/or if I've been on my feet too long.

I think the foot drag thing Willow mentioned is completely different to the heaviness, I say this as I've gotten both symptoms separately and they feel completely different.

I used to get full leg heaviness but now I only get like as if I were trying to carry weights on my feet at times... very heavy. In my own case I do have adrenal exhaustion (abnormally low cortisol shows up on 24 hr testing). Ive had that symptom in the past week or so.

This symptom when its there, heaviness.. make one have to put in a much harder effort to walk. (this symptom, I feel different from just feeling weakness which is a symptom I got separately from it). This heaviness when it happens, is unlike many of my other ME symptoms as when it happens it happens on BOTH SIDES of my body at once eg both legs feeling weighted (with my other symptoms they often happen one sided).

I also can get this heaviness symptom in my arms or head (very heavy head where its hard to hold up as it feels like it weighs a ton.. fortunately I havent had my head affected in that way for quite a long time).

Im surprised far more people didnt respond to this as I'd thought it was a very normal (common) ME symptom which most of us would get and not something only a few of us experience.

Almost every day I have extreme heaviness in my left leg (never the right), often accompanied by migratory stabbing or throbbing pain that moves from hip to throughout the thigh. Though I am mostly bedbound, hanging my leg outside the bed from the hip (I theorize that this keeps blood from pooling, but what do I know?) can help a great deal.

Along with the leg pain, I have stabbing migraines.

My blood pressure sometimes soars as high as 186, for no apparent reason, and at those levels there is no leg heaviness/pain or migraine at all. But with blood pressure below 150, migraine and leg heaviness and/or pain return.

I had slow onset ME/CFS, accumulating other symptoms as the years went on. But this was my first (and excruciating) symptom. And it is chronic: leg heaviness, or leg heaviness plus pain, is almost always present.

I think the foot drag thing Willow mentioned is completely different to the heaviness, I say this as I've gotten both symptoms separately and they feel completely different.

I used to get full leg heaviness but now I only get like as if I were trying to carry weights on my feet at times... very heavy. In my own case I do have adrenal exhaustion (abnormally low cortisol shows up on 24 hr testing). Ive had that symptom in the past week or so.

This symptom when its there, heaviness.. make one have to put in a much harder effort to walk.

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Hi taniaaust,

Thanks so much for your reply. Weird question: Does your heaviness come and go? Is it worse on some days, better on others? That's the way mine seems to be...and perhaps worse in the morning...when my cortisol is low as well.

I'm going to try increasing that Adreno -- thanks. I've been cutting back on moderate to high salicylates -- in most vegetables, and almost all spices -- so I know my potassium intake is probably lower.

Almost every day I have extreme heaviness in my left leg (never the right), often accompanied by migratory stabbing or throbbing pain that moves from hip to throughout the thigh. Though I am mostly bedbound, hanging my leg outside the bed from the hip (I theorize that this keeps blood from pooling, but what do I know?) can help a great deal.

Along with the leg pain, I have stabbing migraines.

My blood pressure sometimes soars as high as 186, for no apparent reason, and at those levels there is no leg heaviness/pain or migraine at all. But with blood pressure below 150, migraine and leg heaviness and/or pain return.

I had slow onset ME/CFS, accumulating other symptoms as the years went on. But this was my first (and excruciating) symptom. And it is chronic: leg heaviness, or leg heaviness plus pain, is almost always present.

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I'm so sorry to hear that. It must be difficult to get your mind off of it, if it is always present.

One thing that I've read during my googling (!), is that heaviness may be connected with poor circulation, often in diabetics or folks with pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. I know my circulation in my legs isn't so great -- my feet are icy cold most of the day, and my 'bad' cholesterol is a little high, the 'good' cholesterol a little low...so I'll try and look into that more.

Has your doctor checked you for atherosclerosis or some other type of heart disease?

I suffer from this too Danny, it comes and goes, can go away for several weeks at a time, it is linked to how I'm feeling, maybe there is some connection with adrenal/thyroid issues which I have, I haven't been tested regularly for these though which is the only way I would know. The heaviness has been described as trying to walk through a vat of treacle with tree stumps attached to your legs, thats me. I also get another horrible feeling where its as if all the energy from my body has drained from my legs, this is where I know I have to sit down immediately or get home fast if out for a short walk. Both horrible and very common in ME from what I've read.

Thanks so much for your reply. Weird question: Does your heaviness come and go? Is it worse on some days, better on others? That's the way mine seems to be...and perhaps worse in the morning...when my cortisol is low as well.

???

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yes the heaviness symptom in my case seems to come and go. I never thou connected it being worst at any particular time of day.

Leg stiffness which is something different to leg heaviness is the only symptom I occassionally get which is worst in the mornings.

My mother used to tell the doc for years that she felt incredibly heavy all over, and he just acted like she was a loon. Doctors call this symptom neurological weakness. Your muscles are fine but it feel like a huge effort to move them because the nerves are not firing on all cylinders.
If you put neurological weakness into search engines you'll get a lot of info on potential causes.

This link gives you the basic definition which explains it better than I can.

Neurological weakness
This is a frequent symptom which may be defined as:- "decreased muscle strength compared to perceived effort"
When neurological weakness is suspected, the first thing a neurologist will ascertain is whether the complaint is of "general weakness or fatigue" rather than real muscle weakness which usually occurs in specific areas of the body or certain muscle groups.

"General fatigue" is not a specific complaint.
Although it can sometimes signify a diffuse (widespread) neurological condition, it is more commonly due to other conditions not considered to be "neurological" in the classical sense.
Such situations include,depression,"chronic fatigue syndrome" a general "internal medical" illness of any kind (eg.infections, liver or kidney problems, biochemical or hormonal imbalance, and even simple sleep deprivation to name but a few.

Neurological Muscle Weakness
In general,this type of problem preferentially affects some areas and not others.
Some conditions can ultimately deteriorate to severe lack of strength of the whole body (eg AIDP / Guillan Barre syndrome, myasthenia gravis )
However at the initial stages of the condition, the condition will almost invariably affect some areas whilst "sparing" others.

Systematic approach to diagnosing the site of the neurological weakness
e.g. "decreased leg strength"
Starting from the brain and moving down and out (proximal to distal) a problem in the following components can adversely affect leg strength:-
1) Brain (e.g.primary motor area of cerebral cortex)
2) Spinal cord
3) Nerve roots
4) Nerves
5) Neuromuscular junction (where the nerve meets and transmits messages to the muscle)
6) Muscle
It is only after a neurologist decides "where the lesion is" that they move on to investigate "what is the cause of the lesion"

In my own case, this weakness is helped a lot with magnesium. I take the max dose, which is 900mg daily. I also take 800mg daily of calcium, which is also essential for nerve health. Your body needs enough of these to do constant repairs to nerve damage, if it is caused by an infectious agent. In my case the infectious agents are bartonella and borrelia.

Some people also get this weakness from not enough B12, so if your dose is not very high, that could be another potential explanation. That's more likely to be the issue if you have poor coordination as well as weakness. In some people it is not a shortage of B12 per se, but of the other things it needs to work. Of course Richvank and Freddd are the ones to ask about that!

lastly, if you have adrenal burnout, then you need less potassium and more sodium. Having low cortisol means you leak sodium out constantly in your urine, and retain potassium. Having these two things unbalanced will certainly make you weak. Have you seen the thread I started on mending the adrenal glands? I basically summarised the whole book "Adrenal Fatigue" by Wilson, and other members added lots of other realy good info. You certainly need to get on the full nutritional therapy for adrenal burnout if you are weak, that has made a huge difference to me. (Sadly it is far from being a quick fix, it has taken me 9 months. It's about slow healing, and I still strongly believe that trying to take shortcuts by using adrenal extract or synthetic hormones is harmful and does ont lead to resolving all the problems; you need to mend your own glands by nourishing them and avoiding substances that harm them).